St. John's Mayor Danny Breen says the city is facing a wastewater problem that will cost tens of millions of dollars to fix — and he wants more time from the federal government to do it. Changes to federal government regulations in 2014 required cities to test the levels of suspended solids and chemical biological oxygen demand — essentially, the amount of oxygen needed for organic material to be broken down in water. The levels found in St. John's mean the city has to build a secondary treatment facility by the end of 2020, which Breen said will cost the city about $85 million to build.